1. Technical Field
This invention relates to water park amusement rides and, more particularly, to a modular aquatic assembly for providing user enjoyment that can be easily disassembled and transported to a remote location.
2. Prior Art
Water slides have come into recent vogue, particularly in the seashore resort areas where as a diversion to swimming in the ocean and riding the surf, the bather can ride flexible mats along predetermined shallow water flow paths as defined by flumes which carry water from a starting pool at some given vertical elevation to a landing pool displaced therefrom and at a lower elevation.
Either natural water is supplied at the upper end of the starting pool and discharged at the landing pool or pumps are provided for continuously circulating the water from the landing pool to the starting pools for gravity traverse down the flumes and subsequent return for collection at the landing pool. Typically, a water trough is provided from a high elevation to a lower elevation, with turns and sharp drops in elevation provided. Water is pumped up to the top of the trough and allowed to fall under the influence of gravity to the bottom of the trough.
Passenger carrying boats are often elevated from a passenger loading platform to the top of the trough and then allowed to be carried by the falling water to the bottom of the trough. The turns and drops in elevation give a thrilling ride for the passengers. Such rides have been in use for a number of years and are permanently installed in a number of large amusement parks. Such rides are generally permanent installations of welded steel reinforced water flume sections. The starting and landing pools and the intervening flumes have often been constructed of reinforced concrete and embedded in natural or prepared earth formations. The reinforced concrete provides particular problems with respect to climactic changes giving problems due to expansion and contraction. The water rides, once created, are virtually impossible to move. The surface of the concrete readily abrades the skin of the users of the water slide, and in some cases, presents esthetic problems.
Attempts have been made to construct water slides consisting of one or more flumes mounted on an open wooden or metal framework and in which case the flumes being made of sheet metal or laid up fiberglass provide a surface which is sufficiently smooth to permit the mat carrying the user to move with little friction, particularly with the water over the course of the flumes. Again, such structures are limited in their esthetics, are fixed in terms of the curvature or path taken by the flumes, are extensive and once assembled, and again, are virtually impossible to dismantle for reconstruction on a different site.
As a result, such rides are expensive to build and difficult to relocate. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a water flume ride construction of lower costs, with trough sections of lighter weight that are easier to assemble, and which can be readily disassembled for movement to a different site.
Accordingly, a need remains for a water amusement ride that is easy to assemble and disassemble, and can be easily transported to a different site as desired by a user. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a modular aquatic assembly that features uniquely shaped modular units that can be readily assembled and disassembled at an economical cost. Such units are also readily transportable so that a user may place it in a northern climate in the summer season, and then disassemble it and move it to a southern climate during the winter season, for example. Such an assembly ensures that an owner reaps the maximum benefit from the assembly without incurring exorbitant costs.